The present invention relates to pill dispensers, and more specifically is concerned with a novel dispensing device that can be employed as a cap assembly for a bottle or pill container, and can be assembled incident to the initial production and filling operation.
The dispensing device as disclosed in the drawings and as discussed hereinafter was developed for a particular type of pill, namely nitroglycerin tablets, and was engineered specifically with regard to the problems encountered relative to the packaging and dispensing of this type of tablet. While the following discussion will be had with regard to these problems, it is understood, and indeed intended, that the dispensing device of the present invention is not limited to use with nitroglycerin tablets.
As will be appreciated, nitroglycerin tablets are used by individuals suffering from a heart condition and the need for dispensing thereof arises generally at a time when the individual is experiencing some sort of heart malfunction and is thus in severe pain. Thus, a dispenser for this type of pill must be reliable, efficient and easily operated, since when the need for the pill arises, time will be of the essence, with a few seconds being the difference between minor or severe heart damage, or even death.
An additional problem, which is encountered in the design of a dispenser for nitroglycerin tablets is that of moisture absorption, which tends to reduce the overall effectiveness of the pills. Therefore, in addition to being easily and efficiently operated, a dispensing device which is permanently attached to a nitroglycerin tablet container must provide a moisture barrier.
Still another problem which is encountered with prior art pill dispensers, although not particularly unique to nitroglycerin tablets, is that in dispensing the pills from a container wherein they are stored in random fashion (as opposed to pill packets) there is a tendency to damage the pills left in the container. This results due to the fact that the dispensing operation requires some form of relative movement between the various elements of the dispensing device. The present invention provides a construction wherein the change of damage to the pills remaining in the container is materially reduced, same being achieved without any loss of effectiveness in the dispensing operation.
Accordingly, as will be appreciated from the description to follow, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a dispensing device which can be assembled to a randomly filled container as a cap assembly. The movel device of this disclosure is designed such that rotation through a relatively small arc, in either direction, will result in the dispensing of a pill, without danger of the dispensing device becoming fouled, or that any of the pills remaining in the container will be damaged. As the description hereinafter develops, other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.